David Robert Mitchell’s latest film “The End of Oak Street” is a fairly entertaining genre piece despite not surprising me that much. Because I was exposed to its trailer more than once, I had a pretty good idea about what I would get, and it does not exceed my expectation a lot, but I appreciate the considerable efforts on and behind the screen at least.

The story, which is set in a typical American suburban neighborhood during the early 1980s, begins with the introduction of one ordinary family living there. Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway) and her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor) try to maintain their supposedly happy and comfortable domestic environment as much as possible, but they have actually been coping with their serious relationship issues, and their two children, Aubrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), have already sensed that even though they do not openly talk about that.

Anyway, as this family try to go on as usual, something really strange happens in their neighborhood in the middle of one night. At first, they thought it was just a big thunderstorm, and they are just merely baffled when it turns out that both electricity and water are cut off. However, it does not take much time for them to see that they are under a very unusual circumstance, and then they are soon shocked to discover that their neighborhood is somehow transported to an ancient world full of dinosaurs.

Needless to say, the family has no choice but to stay inside their house after seeing how dangerous their neighborhood becomes thanks to those carnivore dinosaurs and some other predatory creatures including a very, very, very long snake. As they often hear screams and gunshots from somewhere in their neighborhood, they are reminded more of how hopeless and desperate their situation is, and this also puts extra strain on Denise and Greg’s relationship. Though they know well that they must stick together for themselves as well as their children, they also come to face how much they are estranged from each other for several reasons, and this certainly brings more tension to their increasingly perilous circumstance.

Once the family eventually goes outside via a rather contrived plot turn, the movie provides more moments of horror and suspense along with a little but precious sense of fun. After all, this is basically a bit more tense and violent version of what we usually got from those adventure films made by Amblin Productions during the 1980s, and the movie instantly made me a bit nostalgic as emulating the visual textures of the Amblin movies during the 1980s right from the very beginning (Not so surprisingly, one of its producers is J.J. Abrams, who already gave his own love letter to these movies in “Super 8” (2011)).

In the meantime, the movie certainly goes further than its source of inspiration with its advanced special effects. I must point out that the dinosaurs in the film are not particularly refreshing because of “Jurassic Park” (1993) and its countless (and pointless) sequels during last three decades, but they are still effective tools for terror and some fun nonetheless. There are several good scenes including the one where one particular creature sneaks into the family’s house without being noticed by anyone for a while, and I also like a brief but amusingly naughty moment when Denise and her husband come upon a very private moment between two big dinosaurs.

Around the last act, the family eventually go all the way for what can be a good chance for their survival (Is this a spoiler?), and that is where the story depends more on plot contrivance. To be frank with you, I am not so sure about whether the finale works under the rather vague logic behind its story setting, but you will probably not mind that much as coming to root for the family in the story more than before.

It surely helps that Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor are engaging performers who can bring enough sense of inner life to their archetype roles. As their characters come to show more of their understandable human sides along the story, the story often feels like a serious marital drama just thrown into a fantastic genre playground, and Hathaway and McGregor did a good job of generating enough emotional gravitas for the story.

In contrast, the supporting characters in the movie are relatively under-developed in comparison, and that is its main weak point. While they do their best with their functional supporting parts, Maisy Stella and Christian Convery are often limited by a number of plot contrivances associated with their characters, and it is a bit shame that the movie does not go that deep into their characters’ respective relationships with a certain substantial supporting character played by Jordan Alexa Davis.

On the whole, “The End of Oak Street” did not fully recharge me after I had a bit too stressful and exhausting day at my workplace, but I enjoyed its entertaining moments enough for recommendation. Although it is not as impressive as his breakthrough work “It Follows” (2014), Mitchell succeeds in bouncing from the messy disappointment of “Under the Silver Lake” (2018) at least, and that is certainly something nice to see.